Assembly Bill A5424A

                            
                    S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________

                                 5424--A

                       2013-2014 Regular Sessions

                          I N  A S S E M B L Y

                            February 26, 2013
                               ___________

Introduced  by  M.  of  A.  SWEENEY, SILVER, FARRELL, LIFTON, GOTTFRIED,
  WEISENBERG, COLTON, BRENNAN,  GLICK,  CYMBROWITZ,  O'DONNELL,  JAFFEE,
  KAVANAGH,  ZEBROWSKI,  ABINANTI,  OTIS, ENGLEBRIGHT, DINOWITZ, MARKEY,
  PAULIN, MILLMAN, JACOBS, COOK, MILLER,  ROBINSON,  GALEF,  BRAUNSTEIN,
  SCARBOROUGH,   CLARK,  PERRY,  ROBERTS,  STEVENSON,  HOOPER,  KELLNER,
  CAHILL, ROSENTHAL, PEOPLES-STOKES -- Multi-Sponsored by --  M.  of  A.
  AUBRY,  BUCHWALD,  CRESPO,  FAHY,  GIBSON, HEVESI, LAVINE, MAGNARELLI,
  MAISEL, RYAN, SCHIMEL, SIMANOWITZ, THIELE, TITONE  --  read  once  and
  referred  to  the Committee on Environmental Conservation -- committee
  discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted
  to said committee

AN ACT suspending the issuance of permits for the drilling of wells  for
  natural  gas extraction in certain areas; and providing for the repeal
  of such provision upon expiration thereof

  THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  Section 1. There is hereby established a suspension of the issuance of
permits  for  the  drilling  of a well for natural gas extraction in low
permeability natural gas pools such as the  Marcellus  and  Utica  shale
formations.
  S  2.  1. A school of public health within the state university of New
York shall conduct a comprehensive health impact assessment following  a
model  recommended  by the centers for disease control and prevention to
examine potential public health impacts that  could  be  caused  by  the
extraction  of  natural  gas  using  horizontal drilling and high-volume
hydraulic fracturing. For  the  purposes  of  this  act,  health  impact
assessment shall mean a combination of procedures, methods, and tools by
which  a  policy,  program, or project may be judged as to its potential
effects on the health of a population, and  the  distribution  of  those
effects within the population.

 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                      [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                           LBD09142-02-3

              

A. 5424--A                          2

  2.  Prior to the commencement of such assessment, the school of public
health conducting such assessment shall prepare a scoping document  that
will establish the parameters of the health impact assessment. The scop-
ing  document  shall include the analyses contained in this act, as well
as any other potential analyses to be conducted, and shall be subject to
public review, comment and revision.
  3.  Such  health  impact  assessment  of the extraction of natural gas
using horizontal drilling and  high-volume  hydraulic  fracturing  shall
include, at a minimum, the following analyses:
  (a)  Identification and assessment of the magnitude, nature and extent
of potential localized and statewide health impacts  utilizing  multiple
methods  and  information  derived  from  a combination of public health
tools including risk assessment, scientific literature,  and  population
analysis;
  (b)   Identification   and  assessment  of  disparate  community-level
impacts;
  (c) Estimated costs of any health impacts to the state, local  govern-
ments,  health  insurers,  employers  and the state's public and private
health care systems as a whole;
  (d) Recommendations for any mitigation of potential health impacts and
the methods and evidence used to arrive at such recommendations; and
  (e) A long-term plan for monitoring, evaluating, tracking and mitigat-
ing potential health impacts.
  4. A draft of such health impact  assessment  shall  be  released  for
public  review  and comment. The school of public health conducting such
assessment shall conduct a minimum of two public hearings regarding  the
findings  of  the  draft health impact assessment and allow at least one
hundred twenty days for the public to submit comments.  Upon the closing
of the public comment period, such school of public health  shall  cate-
gorize, review and respond to all public comments. If substantive chang-
es  to  the  health  impact  assessment  are  made as a result of public
comments, such school of public health shall issue a revised draft. Such
revised draft shall similarly be subject to public comment  and  review,
in compliance with the parameters set out for the initial draft.
  5.  After responding to all public comments as required by subdivision
four of this section, and upon completion of the health  impact  assess-
ment,  such  school  of  public health shall submit the completed health
impact assessment to the  New  York  state  department  of  health.  The
department  of health shall make such health impact assessment available
to the public and deliver copies to the legislature and the governor for
review.
  6. The health impact assessment required under subdivision one of this
section shall be completed within ninety days  after  the  final  public
comment period, but in no event shall such assessment be completed later
than April 15, 2015.
  S  3.  This  act shall take effect immediately and shall expire and be
deemed repealed May 15, 2015.